More about the reclusive, insult-slinging copywriter I yapped away about yesterday and mercilessly used to tease people into subscribing to \u201cEmail Players\u201d before the August issue goes to the printer:<\/p>\n
He was a master at getting past what he called:<\/p>\n
\u201cthe secretary barrier\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words:<\/p>\n
He was writing direct mail, including for business publications. And, thus, many people he was trying to sell were business owners, executives, etc who had their mail screened by secretaries. And, thus, to get his piece read, he had to get it by her. If the secretary tossed it out, it was all a big waste of paper and postage. And this is especially true since secretaries were told to recognize and eliminate bulk mail on sight.<\/p>\n
His big secret to giving the secretary the slip?<\/p>\n
(drum roll\u2026)<\/p>\n
\u201cCreate an outer envelope that looks interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he did just that.<\/p>\n
Not just with design, but headlines, etc on the envelope.<\/p>\n
This applies to emails as much as it does direct mail. And, in fact, I would argue today\u2019s consumers are far more ruthless and get far more junk email than the amount of bulk\/junk mail secretaries saw.<\/p>\n
The obvious solution?<\/p>\n
Be interesting.<\/p>\n
The not-so-obvious solution?<\/p>\n
Is described in detail throughout the August \u201cEmail Players\u201d issue. If you apply the big lesson that is embedded in the August issue on every page, and in every paragraph, sentence, and example, you will give your readers\u2019 naturally ruthless desire to delete you on sight the slip, too.<\/p>\n
Not only will they not delete you, they\u2019ll read you.<\/p>\n
And not just read you, but read you with undivided attention.<\/p>\n
All of which can make you a lot more sales.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sending the August issue to the printer in a couple days.<\/p>\n
To get it (and learn more about the mysterious copywriter above), go here:<\/p>\n